Adrien's Girlfriend
by RicardianScholar Clark-Weasley
Summary: In which Plagg is insistent on calling Marinette Dupain-Cheng Adrien's girlfriend...and Adrien is just in denial.


It started from the very beginning on day number two….Plagg casually, almost dismissively actually, referred Marinette as Adrien's girlfriend just as Adrien left her with his umbrella. "She's not my girlfriend," Adrien had replied instantly, "She's my friend."

And that really should have been the end of the matter. No objections, no arguments, no anything, because Plagg really didn't care about it if it wasn't coated in cheese…..but Plagg had apparently not heard Adrien's protest as the very next day he once again referred Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Adrien's girlfriend.

"Hey look," Plagg snickered into Adrien's ear as the limo pulled up to the school on Adrien's third real day of school, "it's your girlfriend."

Adrien turned to see Marinette standing outside of the school with a sweet, simple, smile on her face as she nodded to whatever Alya was ranting about. " _Plagg_!" Adrien hissed quietly as possible. "I told you before she's _not_ my girlfriend! She's just a friend."

"Whatever."

And then suddenly it became _a thing_!

Every time Marinette was near-by or walked past, Plagg would hiss something along the lines of 'hey look, it's your girlfriend', and every time Marinette fumbled over her words or walked into something or accidentally ended up where she should be, Plagg would inform Adrien 'your girlfriend is very amusing', and in any conversation about the shy fashion designer, Plagg always, always, referred her as Adrien's girlfriend.

"Hurry up! Aren't you supposed to meet up with that loud kid, the nosey girl, and your girlfriend for a homework session?"

"Your girlfriend wants to talk to you."

"Man that Chloe is such an annoying spoiled brat! Thank God your girlfriend put her in her place today. She should do it more often. It might actually teach the brat a lesson and we'll have less Akumas to fight."

"You must be happy that your girlfriend won the hat competition."

"Why are you spending your first free day in months working as a translator for your girlfriend and her uncle when you can just make googly eyes at one another when you see each other at school?"

"I love cheese as much as you love your girlfriend."

Each and every time this happened, Adrien would feel his cheeks heat up in embarrassment, the sudden loss of forming coherent sentences as he stammered his indignation, sudden shyness, and irritation, before he finally choked out, as loudly as possible;

"MARINETTE IS **NOT** MY GIRLFRIEND!"

Fortunately most of the time this was just in his bedroom with no witnesses…..but that was most of the time, there had been incidences where it had happened in the middle of the school, or in the middle of the street, or even in a photoshoot, and everyone paused, turned round, and stared, which would only add to Adrien's embarrassment as he wondered if his face was going to be permanently red.

Regardless of where they were or what situation they were in, Plagg reacted to Adrien's outburst the same way each and every time. With a cool, unbothered, indifference to Adrien's assertions while his big, dark green, eyes sparkled with amusement and mischief.

Adrien was distinctly getting the impression that this was all one big joke to Plagg.

It gets worse after the Evillustrator.

It's not just girlfriend that Plagg uses teasingly but Princess. There is now a variant of 'here comes the Princess' or 'Her Highness wishes to speak to you' thrown in with the constant your girlfriend. Adrien was finding it harder and harder to argue the point because while Marinette was definitely not his girlfriend, she was a princess.

She was just and fair, kind and compassionate, brave and bold (when she was not a stammering mess), and just as pretty as any Disney Princess Adrien had grown up watching, and it was would be most unfair of him to deny her that title.

 _But she was still not his girlfriend!_

It boils over on Valentine's Day.

It had been a long day for Adrien. A very long day. Not only did he have his usual tiring schedule that never seem to let up but he had the struggle and frustration of trying to confess his love to Ladybug, his longing for her was exhausting enough as well, and then there was the Akuma battle that always took out a lot from both him and Plagg. Finally there was that mysterious Valentine that the ladybug landed on. The one that read as a reply to his own Valentine that he had thrown into the trash earlier that day.

Adrien was confused, tired, and completely wrung out as eh flopped onto his bed and sighed heavily. "Do you think it's from Ladybug?" he asked hopefully.

"Nah," Plagg said uncaringly as he shoved a large piece of cheese into his mouth. "I think it's from your girlfriend," he said between chews before he swallowed and shot Adrien a sly smile, " _the Princess_."

Adrien stiffened at that. He was so sick and tired of Plagg's teasing and after today, after Plagg just cruelly stomped on his hopes, he was on the verge of losing his temper. "Marinette wouldn't write something like that," he said quietly.

"Sure she would," Plagg smirked, "she's your girlfriend."

" _How many times do I have to tell you_?!" Adrien snarled furiously. "MARINETTE IS **NOT** MY GIRLFRIEND!" he bellowed as his cheeks flushed bright pink and waves of indignant fury bubbled up in his stomach. "She's my _friend_. Just my friend. Not my _girlfriend_ , not my _princess_ , not _anything_. My heart belongs to Ladybug. _Ladybug_!" he stressed crossly. "Do you hear me?! La- _dy_ -bug!"

Plagg lazily blinked his large green eyes with such indifference that Adrien's eye twitched. "You know Adrien," he said coolly, "de Nile is not just a river in Egypt."

Adrien spluttered indignantly at such a clichéd line being used on him. The King of cheesy puns and clichéd, but clever, word plays. "You did not just say that!" he spat out angrily.

"What?" Plagg asked innocently. "I think it is a fair assumption that the Princess is your girlfriend. She is all you talk about," he lifted up a claw at that, "almost as much as Ladybug," he added loudly as Adrien opened his mouth to point out this very fact, "you wasted hours fretting on how to apologise to her about that stupid gum incident," Plagg held up another claw, "you moan and moan constantly about her not talking to you properly," a third claw, "and you have given her a disgustingly cutesy pet name," a fourth claw went up, "if she isn't your girlfriend then _why_ do you call her Princess?" Plagg asked pointedly "I mean, Nino, Chloe, and that Alya girl are all good friends of yours and I don't see you giving them a term of endearment," and with that the fifth, and final, claw went up.

Adrien stared at Plagg's paw of evidence in horror as his brain seemed to have died a sudden death and was now incapable of thought. "I….I….You….I…." he stammered.

"Uh-huh," Plagg said smugly, "that's what I thought."

"…it's your fault," Adrien said quietly.

His brain kicked back into overdrive as he desperately grasped onto anything to defend himself. Plagg's use of that cliché line was his defence. He never used such cheesy clichés and puns until he met Plagg ergo Plagg must have been influencing him.

Plagg blinked at that. "Pardon?" he said bewilderedly.

" _You're_ the one calling her Princess!" Adrien burst out. "I never called her that until I met her as Chat Noir. You're…you're….you're _influencing_ me somehow!"

" _Pfft_!" Plagg snorted. "You wish!" he cackled delightedly at that. "Trust me kid, I just give you magical powers and some cat instincts. Nothing else. Anything that comes out of your mouth from those stupid puns to the endearments, is all _you_. The mask frees you, remember? And when you're free, you call your girlfriend Princess."

Adrien's eyes widened in horrified realisation. He can recall his behaviour as Chat Noir towards Marinette with startling clarity all of a sudden and while he hadn't flirted with her on the same level as he does with Ladybug, he had still given her a pet name and kissed her hand…

 _No!_

He liked Ladybug. Marinette was just his friend. Nothing else. There was nothing romantic in that department. Nuh-huh, no way, never, nope….

"This conversation is over."

Plagg's eyes twinkled with amusement at Adrien's flat tone. "Can't face it, can you?" he smirked. "That your girlfriend poured her every effort in a Valentine for you while you-"

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Adrien barked. "The conversation is _over_ Plagg!"

"Over for you, maybe," Plagg said dismissively. As if Adrien's temper was nothing but a mere annoyance to be swatted away. Like a fly or something just as insignificant and tony. "But I still have a few choice things to say."

And then he proceeded to rant about why cheese is better than girls which really did nothing to help Adrien's frustration and the night ended with Adrien loudly slamming the bathroom door on his way to the shower to make a point that Plagg blatantly ignored.

Plagg's words though plague Adrien's mind the entire night though.

In fact the whole thing plagues Adrien's mind for _months_. It nags at him at the back of his mind as he catches Marinette from the corner of his eyes, or sees her dazzling smile, or bumps into her, or spends a whole day in her company (with Nino and Alya and some of the other classmates but for some reason he was increasingly forgetful of their presence). It doesn't help that Plagg keeps calling Marinette Adrien's girlfriend and Adrien kept telling him that she wasn't his girlfriend but it became more of a routine rather than actual vehement denial.

But his heart still belonged to Ladybug who was just as amazing and brilliant and awe-inspiring as ever. He falls for the spotted superhero more and more at each battle when she pulls off another fantastical feat after another. He has firmly set his cap on her, she was the girl he was one day going to marry.

And yet, for some reason, he is filled with relief when Nino ends up dating Alya instead of Marinette despite his gigantic crush on the blue-eyed girl that very morning. His relief was so overwhelming that he actually sinks to his bedroom floor as he sighed heavily and slumped against his bed.

"Thank God," he muttered.

And then his eyes widened with realisation and he flushes with embarrassment. Not that Plagg had noticed. He was too busy devouring an entire wheel of camembert and getting his fur utterly coated in the stuff. Adrien watches in disgust as Plagg began to lick himself clean. Eventually the silence must have been unbearable for Plagg because he suddenly spoke up.

"I don't understand," Plagg licked a paw, "why were you trying to set your girlfriend up with Nino in the first place? Were you bored of her?"

"I could never be bored of Marinette," Adrien frowned, "and _she's not my girlfriend_!" he added belatedly. "She's no one's girlfriend right now."

"She's _your_ girlfriend," Plagg rolled his eyes as he moved onto the next paw, "Otherwise why were you saying 'I love you, Marinette! I love you, Marinette!"' all afternoon today?"

Adrien's cheeks burned with humiliation. "I was prompting Nino!" he protested.

"Yet the poor boy couldn't even _say_ it," Plagg pointed out flatly, "He choked. And he ended up asking out another girl. The same girl he told Marinette that he loved."

The suggestiveness in Plagg's tone made the hairs on the back of Adrien's neck stand on end. There was something Plagg was implying that made Adrien feel distinctly uncomfortable. "So Nino didn't actually _love_ Marinette," he mumbled, "That doesn't mean _I do_!"

"Are you sure?" Plagg asked cynically. "You were rather persistently passionate about someone saying _I love you_ to the Princess." Adrien blushed brightly at that as he folded into himself with the biggest cringe he ever felt. This must be one of the most embarrassing, humiliating, and awkward conversations in his short life. "Don't get all embarrassed kid," Plagg said with the slightest, uncharacteristic, gentleness in his tone, "it's perfectly natural to feel such icky things for your girlfriend."

Adrien sat up straight at that. " _She's not my girlfriend_!" he snapped as he glowered furiously at Plagg.

Instead of smirking or being smug like he was majority of the time or childishly teasing as he revelled in Adrien's embarrassment though, Plagg met his glare with a wise, old, look that made Adrien's skin tingle all over as he felt like was being pitied by a God or something. Plagg seemed to be staring at Adrien through an ancient wisdom filter that made Adrien feel his very soul was being x-rayed right now.

"…But she could be," Plagg said quietly.

And nothing else is said for the rest of the night as Adrien didn't want to acknowledge how very right Plagg was at that moment.

She could be.

She, _Marinette Dupain-Cheng_ , could be his, _Adrien Agreste_ , girlfriend….all he had to do was ask.

Something changes after that.

For some reason he becomes increasingly aware of Marinette. Aware of her sweet smile and tinkling laugh, aware of her flowery and sugary scent, aware of the fact that she sits next to him, aware of every word that comes out of her mouth as she excitedly, eagerly, converses with Alya behind him, and frustratingly, he was also increasingly aware of the little time they actually interacted with one another.

The time spent in her bedroom playing video games for that competition was the only time they actually had alone together in months. Since then Adrien had been busy with a variety of different things mostly scheduled by his father (or more accurate his father's _assistant)_ or being a superhero or, worse, Chloe making demands on his time. He has barely had time for Nino let alone try and make awkward conversation with a girl he may or may not like in that way.

Then on an early Saturday afternoon when he finally escapes from his oppressing schedule and ginormous bodyguard, Adrien finds himself standing on the underground train lost in thought how sneaking of the cinema might just be more fun if he was actually meeting friends and not buying cheesy popcorn for his glutton of a kwami when he suddenly felt Plagg nudge him in the back of the neck.

"Hey look," Plagg snickered into his ear, as he always did, "it's your _girlfriend_."

Adrien whipped round to see just Alya standing in the next carriage over and a sudden tsunami of disappointment crashed into his chest. " _Plagg_!" he hissed crossly. "That's not Marinette, that's _Alya!_ " he grumbled. "How can you mix the two of them up you see them _every day_?!"

"Look again," Plagg said dryly, "Lover Boy."

Adrien did so and was taken back to see Marinette hide behind Alya as if Alya was a shield to protect her from some dangerous, terrifying, beast while she smiled awkwardly in Adrien's direction and gave him a timid little wave.

He replied just as awkwardly.

Plagg sniggered loudly, obviously entertained. "Heh," he drawled out in amusement, "not denying it anymore I see."

Adrien stiffened, his eyes widened, and his heart faltered into a halting stop as he realised that he had stopped telling Plagg that Marinette was not his girlfriend. When had he started to accept this fact? When had he started thinking of her in that way? When had he stopped yelling at Plagg for making up crap and teasing him about it?

 _Oh dear God, he had been brainwashed!_

Plagg had teased him so often that Adrien had started to believe it himself!

But before Adrien could stammer out this defence, Alya had suddenly turned into Lady Wi-Fi again and he had to go and rescue Marinette.

Then there had been another Akuma altogether and he got possessed again and by the time Ladybug had dealt with the whole ordeal, Adrien was immediately captured by his bodyguard and dragged home.

Plagg had been too busy bemoaning the loss of cheesy popcorn to bring up the subject again and Adrien almost forgot about the whole thing.

 _Almost_.

A few weeks later, Marinette falls down the stairs outside of the school and Adrien catches her instinctively. She's in his arms like a damsel in distress or the princess she is, and there is a moment of awkwardness as she got all flustered and he was too dumbstruck to say much in reply.

"You know," Plagg murmured slyly in Adrien's ear, "I'm pretty sure school is for _learning_ not canoodling with your girlfriend."

"We weren't _canoodling_!" Adrien hissed back. "She _tripped_ and I caught her!"

"Heh," Plagg sniggered, "still not denying it anymore then."

And then Adrien remembered the real incorrect aspect of Plagg's sentence as his eyes widened in horror. He had done it again! " _She's not my girlfriend_!" he yelped.

"Too late, Adrien," Plagg smirked, "too late to deny it now."

"This is _your_ fault!" Adrien muttered irritably. "You have been brainwashing me."

"Eh?" Plagg made a face that suggested he thought Adrien was the stupidest person on the planet. "Do you want to me to explain to you again how I only give you powers and cat instincts?"

" _No!_ " Adrien snapped. "I meant all of your teasing, the constant 'Marinette is your girlfriend', that's brainwashed me. You have conditioned me into thinking Marinette as my girlfriend."

" _Pfft!_ " Plagg snorted. "Whatever you say, kid." He said with great indifference but Adrien could see his green eyes twinkling in amusement and his lips twitching as he was obviously laughing at Adrien's latest train of thought. "But personally….I think you're finally coming out of denial."

Adrien would have throttled Plagg, he truly would, but that was when Princess Fragrance made an appearance on TV and Chat Noir had to go into battle.

They don't talk about Marinette again for a while. Life suddenly got busy, there was modelling jobs, and saving the world, and his Dad's strange behaviour and the secret vault, and that weird book, and then Volpina.

Adrien finds himself too busy as both Adrien and Chat Noir to function normally let alone debate whether or not he was being brainwashed by Plagg.

And then he finds out Ladybug's identity.

It happened in the most anti-climactic way possible – at least in Adrien's mind who had this romantic vision of mid-battle, adrenalin pumping, fear for their lives, with lots of passionate kissing and melodramatic declarations of love – when he just happened to turn into an alleyway just as Ladybug's transformation wore off to reveal Marinette Dupain-Cheng squeaking in terror.

There was an awkward moment as neither of them were capable of getting a fully functioning sentence out (their kwamis were no help as they were too busy _laughing_ at them!) and then further awkwardness as they kept walking into one another as they tried to leave the alleyway. Eventually Adrien found himself sitting in a too pink bedroom as Marinette went to fetch some tea and snacks before they talked about it properly.

He was still trying to process it all.

After all it was not every day you discover the two most important girls in your life are the same person.

"Marinette is Ladybug," he murmured numbly, "Ladybug is Marinette. _Marinette_ is Ladybug and _Ladybug_ is Marinette!" he yelped.

" _See!_ " Plagg said smugly. "I told you she was your girlfriend!"

There was a beat of silence as something in Adrien's mind clicked.

"….YOU KNEW?!" he bellowed.

" _Duh,_ " Plagg rolled his eyes, "it was really obvious. Hey," he piped up over Adrien's indignant spluttering (because no, it really wasn't _that_ obvious!), "Do you think the Princess has good quality cheese here?"

"Don't change the subject!" Adrien snapped. "You _knew_ and you didn't tell me."

"I dropped hints all year," Plagg said in bored tone, he looked incredibly fed up with Adrien as well which did nothing to improve Adrien's own foul mood, "it's not my fault you're an idiot."

"No," Adrien hissed, "you _didn't_!"

"Yes," Plagg snapped back impatiently, "I _did_! Why would I refer to a girl as _your girlfriend_ if you haven't been declaring your love for her all this time, hmm?"

There is a moment of prolonged silence as Adrien absorbed this little fact. Suddenly all of Plagg's teasing and cryptic lines made sense….Adrien was going to strangle the little git.

Or he would have but Marinette chose that very moment to walk back into her room with a tray laden with tea, baked goods, and cheese. The pink, flustered, face of _his girlfriend_ proved to be much better entertainment than chasing after Plagg to give him his just desserts.

(Plagg, however, was incredibly disappointed to discover that the next time he leans into Adrien's ear and murmurs; "Your girlfriend is here," that Adrien just smiles a sickly, soppy, love-struck smile which was nowhere near as entertaining as before….damn, what was he going to do to entertain himself with now?)


End file.
